Sprinklers



Jan. 17, 1956 G. B. GRIFFITH 2,731,296

' SPRINKLERS Filed May 11, 1955 ERA/VV/LL E B. ER/FF/ TH INVENTOR.

SPRINKLERS Granville norimta-mlvnnuvm oreg. 1 Application May 11, 1953, Serial No. 354,159

1 Claim. c1. 299-69) This invention relates to improvements in rotary water sprinklers and has for one of its principal objects, the provision of a sprinkler in which the sprinkler-head will rotate with a minimum amount of friction and wherein the sprinkler arms may be rotated about their longitudinal axis to vary their speed of rotation in a horizontal plane.

A further object is to provide a sprinkler-head with sprinkler-arms terminating at their outer ends in flattened nozzles for discharging water in a flat, broad sheet or stream to impart rapid rotation to the sprinkler-head and to spread the water to a maximum extent.

A further object is to provide a sprinkler of this character which is of simple, eflicient, durable construction comprising few parts and consequently assuring low cost to manufacture.

These and other objects will appear as my invention is more fully hereinafter described in the following specification, illustrated in the accompanying, drawing and finally pointed out in the appended claim.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the invention.

Figure 2 is a side view of Figure l with fragments of the rotary sprinkler arms broken away and showing the device attached to the end of a garden hose.

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail view partly in section illustrating a bearing for the sprinkler-head.

Figure 4 is an end view of thejsprinkler-head looking in the direction of the arrow applied to Figure 1.

Figure 5 is an enlarged detail view of a modified form of sprinkler-head bearing.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing:

In Figures 1 and 2, the supporting base for the device comprises a length of pipe 1 in open communication at one of its ends with an elbow 2 connected by means of a fitting, generally indicated at 3, to a garden hose 4 or any other suitable source of water supply. The opposite end of the pipe 1 is in open communication with a T-fitting 5 which is connected as at 6 to another T-fitting 7 to whose ends are secured laterally extending pipes 8 and 9 closed at their outer ends by caps 10 and 11, respectively.

To the vertical outlet of the T-fitting 5 I secure a pipe standard 12 which serves as an elevated support for and supplies water to a sprinkler-head generally indicated at 13. i

The sprinkler-head comprises two identical arms 14 and 15 made of pipe or tubing screw threaded at their inner ends to a T-fitting 16 and in open communication with the interior thereof. This fitting is attached to and supported by a hollow vertical shaft 17 formed at its bottom end into a bearing flange 18 and rotatably and slid ably mounted within a bearing cap 19 whose lower end is enlarged as at 20 and internally threaded as at 21 for threaded attachment to the top of the standard 12. The top end of the enlargement 20 forms an annular shoulder 22 to provide a bearing surface for the flange 18 when the sprinkler-head is thrust upwardly by the water under pressure flowing under the flange 18 on its 2,731,296 Patented Jan. 17, 1956 t 2 way through thednterior of the hollowshaft 17 and thence on .out through the :sprinkler arms. When the :water pressure is turned nth-the sprinkler-head will, of course, be-

come imperative and fallby gravity into the dotted line position shown in Figure 3 wherein T-fitting 16 will come to rest upon the cap 19. During the operation of the device, the shaft 17 and its flange 18, will more or less, float within the bearing cap 19 in proportion to the degree of water pressure.

The sprinkler arms 14 and 15, by means of their threaded construction to the T-fitting 16 may be rotated about their longitudinal axes to position their angularly arranged end portions 14A and 15A, respectively, in any desired angular position with respect to the standard 12 as best illustrated in Figure 4.

The outer end portion of each sprinkler arm is flattened as at 23 toward its outermost end to provide a nozzle 24 for discharging the water in a thin, diverging broad and flat sheet or stream to impart rapid rotation to the sprinkler-head. By this arrangement, the greatest speed of rotation can be attained by arranging the angular end portions 14A and 15A of the arms in a horizontal position or in other words, at right angles to the vertical standard 12. It will be noted in Figures 1 and 4 that the outermost surface of the tip of each nozzle 24 is not parallel to its respective arm but instead is tapered outwardly with respect thereto to give the nozzle greater width for the purpose of spreading the flat discharging sheet of water to a greater extent.

Each sprinkler arm is provided with orifices 25 spaced apart in the direction of the length of the arm and slightly offset from the longitudinal axis of the arm so that jets of water will be projected upwardly for precipitation over the area between the nozzles 24 and which would not otherwise be supplied with water.

In the modified form of the sprinkler-head bearing shown in Figure 5, I interpose a thrust ball bearing 26 between the flange 18A at the lower end of the hollow shaft 17A and the bearing surface 22A within the bearing' cap to reduce friction to a minimum between said flange and the shoulder when maximum water pressures are used.

The fitting 3, by means of which the water intake end of pipe 1 is connected to the hose 4, is purposely offset or elevated with respect to the ground so that a rearward pull on the hose will tilt the device forwardly for convenience in moving it from one area to another and at the same time tilt the orbit of rotation of the water from the sprinkler arms so that the water will not fall upon the operator.

While I have shown particular forms of embodiment of my invention, I am aware that many minor changes therein will readily suggest themselves to others skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

A lawn sprinkler comprising in combination a horizontal hollow tubular base turned upwardly at one of its ends and adapted at said end for attachment to a source of water supply, an upright tubular standard secured to and in open communication with the interior of said base, a bearing cap secured to the top end of said standard, an annular horizontal shoulder formed on. the interior of said cap, a hollow vertical shaft rotatably and slidably mounted for vertical movement within said cap, a flange formed on the bottom end of said shaft and adapted under pressure of water passing upwardly through the cap to rotatably contact said shoulder, a T-fitting secured to and in permanent unrestricted open communication with the interior of said hollow shaft, a pair of radially extending perforated sprinkler arms adjustably and rotatably the bottom ofj-the top of the bearing attached-attheir inner ends to said fitting and terminating at their outer ends in angularly offset nozzles, the outermost surface of each nozzle being flattened and tapered outwardly with respect to the longitudinal axis of its respective arm to force a fanwise stream ofwater from said nozzle and' whereby rotation ;of said arms about their longitudinal axes with respect to said fitting will yary the speed of their rotation in a horizontal plane about said t d d r. t V

v keferences Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Buelna Nov. 12, 1907 ,Sweney Apr. 6, 1909 Buelna Dec. 8, 1925 Granger Mar. 16, 1926 Boiselle Jan. 3, 1928 Todd July 16, 1929 Lederman Feb. 2,1932 Barksdale July 6, 1943 

